The sports world has always been at the leading edge of technological progress. Athletes dominate the list of most-followed celebrities across social platforms. Teams and players have used everything from video games to fitness trackers to AI in order to get an edge over their competition. Nothing has shaped the future of TV more than the bidding wars over live events like the Super Bowl or the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. You’ve seen Microsoft’s Surface tablets thrown all over NFL sidelines, VR cameras promising a courtside view of the NBA Finals, and shoes that make marathon runners even faster somehow. From VAR and robotic umpires to hyperrealistic Formula One simulators and league-affiliated esports, the future of sports is as much a story about technology as it is about wins and losses. It’s taking place across sports, across the globe, and at record-breaking speed.
Along with bringing a key plays section to the Play-By-Play tab, the latest Apple Sports update adds pregame lineups for soccer and baseball games as well.
You can also schedule Live Activities for more games and view league standings that show “which teams have qualified for the postseason and which have been eliminated.”
It’s not a feature you typically associate with ski and snowboard gear, but POC’s new $550 Obex Connect helmet creates its own mesh network so you can talk with others on the hill even if you don’t have a cellphone signal. It’s also got Bluetooth for connecting to smartphones, audio courtesy of Harman Kardon, and an NFC chip with your medical info.
TNT Sports is going to show some NBA 2K25 overlays over real-life 2024 Emirates NBA Cup quarterfinals and semifinals matches. Weird, but interesting.
NBC Sports will similarly overlay elements of Madden NFL over the Houston Texans vs. Kansas City Chiefs NFL game that airs on Peacock on December 21st.
Update: Added details of NFL game with Madden elements.
Despite the glitches in its Tyson-Paul livestream that pulled in more than 60 million viewers, Netflix is pushing forward to another major live event with two exclusive NFL broadcasts on Christmas Day.
And now the streamer has announced that Beyoncé will perform at halftime of the second game, as the Houston Texans host the Baltimore Ravens starting at 4:30PM ET on December 25th.
The company is dropping its legal battle in favor of an 11-year settlement for domestic and global rights to “a significant amount of NBA content,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
WBD’s TNT will still lose NBA games to Disney, Amazon, and NBCUniversal next year, but got one consolation:
In addition, these people said, ESPN will sublicense Big 12 conference college football and basketball games to Warner Bros. Discovery that it can air on TNT, as well as on its Max streaming service.
Everything about this trailer is geared toward me specifically: the iconic “It’s in the game!” catchphrase, the debates over player ratings, the fact that Madden really has been the same damn game for like 10 years. This doc drops right around Thanksgiving, and even promises to share what’s coming next year. Which I will buy. And be bad at. Just like every year.
Juston Gordon-Montgomery sees his new shonen-inspired Adult Swim series as a gateway to the world of wrestling.
Last month, I published a story about tennis embracing the electronic line calling system — and all of the data, sports betting, and financial implications that come with it. Wimbledon, the most prestigious of the Grand Slams, just announced it will get rid of human line judges at next year’s tournament. At this point, the ELC takeover is inevitable.
There’s white smoke from ESPN’s HQ in Bristol, CT, today, as Shams Charania broke the news of his own free agent signing, saying:
I am honored to join ESPN as the company’s Senior NBA Insider.
He will take over the spot from his one-time mentor and longtime rival, Wojnarowski, who announced his retirement last month.
You’ll be able to watch up to four Fubo channels simultaneously. “Additional” Roku devices are set to get the feature in the “coming weeks,” Fubo says.
Fubo’s multiview is also available on Apple TV.
Who is at fault? The judges, the technology, or the way we measure time itself?
Nike is moving on from CEO John Donahoe less than a week after Bloomberg published its unflatteringly-titled profile of his four-year tenure.
Under Donahoe, Nike de-emphasized retail stores to chase direct sales, flooded the market with retros like the Panda Dunks, and put the RTFKT NFT shoe brand on the same level as the Swoosh and Jordan Jumpman.
Today’s announcement doesn’t include the RTFKT logo.
Last month, Apple announced an update for the Sports app that adds Live Activities support to help you follow games on the lock screen of your iPhone or Apple Watch.
Now, it has been released in the App Store just ahead of the launch of iOS 18 and watchOS 11, and it includes a new drop-down menu and search setup to switch between leagues and teams.
Tennis has big plans for the future: TikTok, sports betting, and a lot of matches in Saudi Arabia. Last year, I started reporting on Hawk-Eye, the electronic line-calling technology used by the US Open. That sent me down a much longer rabbit hole after I learned the data used to call balls in or out was feeding into the algorithms used by gambling oddsmakers.
You can read the story or check out the bite-size version below.
Sources tell the New York Post that Amazon is in talks with Bally Sports for a deal that would simultaneously air MLB, NBA, and NHL games on Prime Video and cable.
The rumored sports package would reportedly let users watch local games for around $20 per month. Amazon already has an agreement with the NBA that will put dozens of games on Prime Video next season.
Bill Belichick, the longtime Patriots coach who famously never said anything interesting in public for like three decades, just joined Instagram — sorry, Instaface — in the absolute most chaotic way possible. The cuts! The dad jokes! The second slide!
Can’t help but notice Tom Brady hasn’t followed him yet.
The start of this carriage dispute even nixed a US Open viewing session on a screen at New York’s Hudson Yards. While DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-verse customers miss the services they pay for and Venu Sports remains on hiatus, both sides point fingers over the blackout.
...we will not enter into an agreement that undervalues our portfolio of television channels and programs.
Disney is again taking an anti-consumer approach, demanding that customers from DirecTV and other TV distributors be forced to pay for channels they don’t watch...
